Slogan

A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commercial, religious, and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose.

Etymology

The word slogan is derived from slogorn which was an Anglicisation of the Scottish Gaelic and Irish sluagh-ghairm (sluagh "army", "host" + gairm "cry"). Slogans vary from the written and the visual to the chanted and the vulgar. Their simple rhetorical nature usually leaves little room for detail and a chanted slogan may serve more as social expression of unified purpose than as communication to an intended audience.

Usage

Marketing slogans are often called taglines in the United States or straplines in the United Kingdom. Europeans use the terms baselines, signatures, claims or pay-offs.

"Sloganeering" is a mostly derogatory term for activity which degrades discourse to the level of slogans.

Slogans are used to convey a message about the product, service or cause that it is representing. It can have a musical tone to it or written as a song. Slogans are often used to capture the attention of the audience it is trying to reach. If the slogan is used for commercial purposes, often it is written to be memorable/catchy in order for a consumer to associate the slogan with the product it is representing. A slogan is part of the production aspect that helps create an image for the product, service or cause it's representing. A slogan can be a few simple words used to form a phrase that can be used in a repetitive manner. In commercial advertising, corporations will use a slogan as part of promotional activity. Slogans can become a global way of identifying good or service, for example Nike's slogan 'Just Do It' helped establish Nike as an identifiable brand worldwide.

Slogans (song)

"Slogans" is a remixed version of Bob Marley song released 24 years after his death. The 2005 single was released on the greatest hits album Africa Unite: The Singles Collection and was the second last song on the album.

The song, originally titled "Can't Take Them Slogans No More" appears on a 1980 home recording cassette. Recording such 'idea' tapes was common in Marley's career, and many circulate in bootleg and online form. This, however, is the only song from this particular tape released so far. Whilst more have been speculated to be released in future, details are limited.

The song was recorded 1980 and has only Bob Marley and a drum machine on the recording, however other artists were overdubbed onto the song to make it sound like a complete Bob Marley & The Wailers song. Eric Clapton plays guitar on this recording. Whilst the performance was considered respectful by many longtime fans (unlike previous attempts to modernise Marley's sound, such as the single versions of I Know A Place and Iron Lion Zion), the chord sequence of the overdubbed backing track resembles No Woman No Cry.

Slogans (film)

Slogans (Parullat) is a 2001 Albanian film directed by Gjergj Xhuvani. It was the first Albanian film to be selected to screen on the Director's Fortnight at Cannes Filmfestival 2001 and has gone on to win many other festival awards. It was further Albania's submission to the 74th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but was not accepted as a nominee.

The film presents the ideological brainwashing that characterized the life of Albanians during the times of the communist Enver Hoxha regime. The protagonist is Andrea (Artur Gorishti; Andrea is a male name in Albania), a young and liberal-minded school teacher, who is sent from Tirana to work in a small village school. As a teacher he needs to participate in constructions of socialist and patriotic slogans on the slopes of a hill in the village. He does not take this task very seriously and for this he is continuously scorned by the village's Communist party officials.

See also